I went to elementary school in the US, and it was there that I learned how you have to handle bullies. You don't have to be able to beat them up, you only have to make them work[0] hard enough to beat you up[1] that they start picking on someone who is more fun and less work to abuse[2].
[0] when I told my wife how "calling someone out" worked in the States, she was horrified: she said, yes, of course the boys here fight, but they fight in anger, spontaneously — what kind of barbarians make notes in their agendas to kick each others' ass, in cold blood, later?
[1] the better kind of bully only goes to first blood. Worse are the O'Briens (read "Such, such were the joys" and you may understand were that character comes from) who continue beating you up just so others see they can:
> "Even if people stop rebelling against the party, the Party will manufacture new traitors so that it can be seen crushing them."
Either way, even though I lost every single fight, no one picked on me again after I'd called them out. (bullies are not into schlep?)
[2] yes, maybe in hindsight it would have been better to stand up for those they switched to. My wife was also horrified by "snitches get stitches". In practice, JFK tried to create a world in which the strong were just, the weak secure, and the peace protected, but obviously others in the US didn't care for those goals.